The Inside Story on Bountygate (1 Viewer)

[SWAMP_THING]

There is a scale. The Saints had culpability in bountygate. It was nothing near what the they were accused of doing, but they did break rules.

So when fans say the Saints did nothing it isn't much different than people sliding the scale the other way.

IMO the biggest reason Goodell came down so hard was he wanted an admission that the Saints had a bounty on Favre, and only GW caved. Whether or not the there was a bounty in that game has always been 95% of the case against the Saints. Everything else was fluff. But I believe to this date the NFL and probably many others believe there was a bounty against Farve.

But what about the bounty on Brees?

 

[SWAMP_THING]

The day Bountygate hit, NFL.com posted an article that it has not come close to posting since. Essentially it says what the Saints did was nothing different than what every other team does since forever, it's commonplace; that the Saints players are part of a larger NFL fraternity that consider a kitty for knock out hits and big plays a time honored tradition. See for yourself, because you'll never see another article like it again especially from NFL.com!

Saints' 'pay for performance' system commonplace in NFL - NFL.com

 

[dtc]

Now that several years have passed since the infamous "Bountygate" I think we can all see that the issue with the Saints was not really about a bounty system. I've always wondered what was really behind all of it. Here are some of the factors but there has to be more:

1. Impending concussion lawsuit.
2. Sean Payton asking for a special clause in his contract that would give him the out if Mickey is gone.

So what are the other reasons?

- Mike Ornstein relationship?
- Vicodin Scandal
- Payton getting a bad reputation around NOLA
- Rita and Gayle not getting along?

What was REALLY behind Bountygate because we all know the Saints didn't really do anything other teams weren't doing.

There are 2 factors.

1, was the concussion law suit.

the other was the fact that the Saints were specifically warned and told to cease and desist. The did not. Then, they lied about it.

In order to make themselves look good on the concussion front and for goodell to look like the dictator he fancies, they stomped us into the ground for refusing to stop an otherwise innocuous program and the lied about it.

I think Tom Brady ought to be shaking in his shoes right now because it wouldn't surprise me at all if he gets squashed for refusing to cooperate given the facts.

 

[VPCajun]

There is a scale. The Saints had culpability in bountygate. It was nothing near what the they were accused of doing, but they did break rules.

So when fans say the Saints did nothing it isn't much different than people sliding the scale the other way.

IMO the biggest reason Goodell came down so hard was he wanted an admission that the Saints had a bounty on Favre, and only GW caved. Whether or not the there was a bounty in that game has always been 95% of the case against the Saints. Everything else was fluff. But I believe to this date the NFL and probably many others believe there was a bounty against Farve.

.

remind me again - just what rules were broken??

NONE that I know of!

.

And, no, the NFL and/or Goddell spewing out lies does not mean anything otherwise.

.

 

[bobad]

It boils down to this:

a) Impending concussion lawsuit
b) Goodell getting butthurt saying Payton lied to him
c) See a and b above

Now, let's move on.

I think there's another important element.

I think when Goody questioned Payton, he got angry, bellicose, and disrespectful. I think he challenged Goody and pushed him too far, forcing him to take harsher measures. I can detect it when I hear Payton talking about it.

 

[WestCoastFan]

Sean Payton knew what was going on, he just didn't think anything of it especially since it's been so widespread throughout the league and for so long to be considered like a time honored tradition. They(media) try very hard and to this day to make it seem the Saints invented the entire concept of "bounties" which is so far from the truth it is infuriating to Saints fans.

Good point!

 

[stevend]

.

remind me again - just what rules were broken??

That is exactly what I'm referring too when I say Saints fans pushing thing too far to the innocent side.

The Saints coaches had a performance rewards system that paid incentives for things such as fumbles, interceptions, "cart-offs" and "knockouts". This is a violation of the bounty rule.

Now if you believe they didn't have this systems that is one thing, but if you acknowledge they had the system, and justify that they didn't break any rules somehow, that is just simply wrong.

 

[WestCoastFan]

Gosh. I almost cant bear to watch the red thumbs you get for mentioning the name not to be mentioned. There will be many. Good luck

Yeah, I thought about that while writing that post and it was very refreshing to see the opposite. I understand that a lot of people think Rush is jerk but even the biggest jerks aren't jerks 100% of the time and the fact that this didn't have anything to do with politics probably made it more bearable. Believe it or not, Rush does know a thing or two about football and sports in general. What I also liked about the story was that a Pittsburgh Steeler fan (Rush) was defending Sean and other Saints for the bountygate debacle. It's nice to hear support for the Saints outside the Who Dat Nation.

 

[Lurkaholic]

You expected him to have the inside story on Bountygate, since that's what he titled his thread.

 

[SaintsJunkie]

vikings did us like the colts did the Pats

 

[SuperMatt]

Can't wait to read Payton's book when he retires about bountygate!!!!

 

[saint_drago]

Also, let's not forget the amount of egg that was on the shield because Goodell gave the Patriots a slap on the wrist for Spygate. It was like Goodell made up his mind that the next time a team got out of line he was gonna go nuclear no matter what.

 

[diehardfan]

The title of this thread should be: I have no idea what the inside story is on Bounty Gate

 

[bornnraisedwhodat]

Multiple things IMO.

1. I feel like there was somewhat of a personal vendetta vs Payton for some reason. Payton has been know to viewed as "arrogant". I think he rubbed Goodell wrong by being late for the post SB presser. I think the viocodin thing also erked Goodell. I also remember Payton criticizing the league for holding a vote on the new overtime rules without the coaches.

2. The concussion lawsuits - This had less to do with the actually courts than it did a PR campaign to paint the league. When Childress and Co first came to the league about the NFCCG game back in 2010, did this a faux investigation, Saints denied and NFL basically moved on. When Cerrilou came to them late in 2011 with power points and so called evidence, I think they saw this as an opportunity to get on the right side of the concussion thing. They knew if they looked hard at any NFL team they would find evidence of a Pay for performance scheme, they know every team does it. So they said hey, we can look like we care about player safety and I can stick to the ******* Sean at the same time.

3. Ornstein - I really think the fact that Sean had Ornstein hanging around the facility and on the sidelines ****** off the league. The league had an active suit vs Ornstein meanwhile he is hanging out on the sideline at games. Im sure this infuriated them.

 

[GasBag]

We were robbed, slandered, and deified. SP and the team were slaughtered by Goodell, based on hearsay evidence of a disgruntled, piece of work, fired employee.